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Product Liability Law & StrategyFeaturesClass ActionsLitigationProducts Liability

Defeating Certification of “No-Injury” Consumer Protection Class Actions

By Steven P. Benenson
January 01, 2018

In the past several years, plaintiffs' firms have threatened or brought class actions against different companies under New Jersey's Truth-in-Consumer Contract Warranty and Notice Act, N.J.S.A. §§ 56:12-14, et seq. (TCCWNA). This statute applies to a “consumer or prospective consumer” who is offered or enters a “written consumer contract” that “includes any provision that violates any clearly established legal right of a consumer” under state or federal law “at the time the offer is made or the consumer contract is signed … .” N.J.S.A. § 56:12-15. Relevant to product manufacturers, resellers, lessees or servicers, the Act applies to any “seller [or] lessor” and defines a “consumer” as “any individual who buys, leases, [or] borrows any … property or service which is primarily for personal, family or household purposes.” Id. A company that violates TCCWNA is liable for a civil penalty of not less than $100 or actual damages, or both, at the election of the consumer, together with attorney fees and court costs. N.J.S.A. § 56:12-17.

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